Insights for July 2016

Sedum, Image by Margaret Gervais

Awakening:"From the soul’s point of view, you come to appreciate that each one of us is living out his or her own karma. We interact together, and those interactions are the grist for each other’s mill of awakening. From a personality point of view, you develop judgment, but from the soul’s point of view, you develop appreciation. This shift from judging to appreciating — to appreciating yourself and what your karmic predicament is, and who other beings are with their own karma — brings everything into a simple loving awareness. To be free means to open your heart and your being to the fullness of who you are, because only when you are resting in the place of unity can you truly honor and appreciate others and the incredible diversity of the universe." Ram Dass

"Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do." Clarissa Pinkola Estes, American poet, post-trauma specialist and Jungian psychoanalyst, author of Women Who Run With the Wolves. Thank you to Carol Ferris for sharing this with me.

“As she swam in the ocean of wisdom, the distance that she once saw between her and the stars in the sky began to vanish, all that once separate no longer felt far away. Gently, the “I” that caused so much trouble began to evaporate. As she embraced the oneness of life, it dawned on her that the entirety of the universe rested completely in her heart.” Yung Pueblo, Swimming Freely

“There is a larger frame to the painting than the one that bounds our life’s events.” Ram Dass

Grief:

“The young psyche is absorbed in itself and its point of view, until something happens to destroy that innocence – we fall in love and the person leaves us, or someone in our family dies, or there is a crushing disappointment, like not getting into the college we had our heart set on because we didn’t’ make the grade. Whatever it is, something breaks the heart, and when the heart is broken, the wound begins in the psyche, the wound that will act like the grain of sand in the oyster. Dealing with that wound over years, with awareness and hard work, will produce the pearl of inner essence that cannot be taken away, because it’s indestructible. But to build an inner indestructible essence, we must first be destroyed in our more naïve form. “ James Hillman

Trauma:

“The focus of the trauma healing work [for highly sensitive beings], then, is two-fold: warmth and empathy for the original experience and empathy for the child who received a negative, rather than a caring response.” Sarah Peyton

Astrology:

"’Eris is the Greek goddess of discord and strife,’ Astronomer Mike Brown, a member of the discovery team, said via NASA. "She stirs up jealousy and envy to cause fighting and anger among men." Eris is currently conjunct (right next to) Uranus - the planet that is electrifying and impulsive and causes quick dramatic change. They are both square (causing conflict) with Pluto - the planet of power and transformation, all for the next four years. Make sense? Powerful changes+immediate impulsive changes+discord and strife. What to do? Do what you can. Don't ignore the trauma happening around the world, and possibly around you, be aware and see what it is in you that needs to and can change. Then go with the flow of deep strong powerful transformation and be part of the power of good.” Margaret Gervais